1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to configuration systems and, more particularly, to enabling users to create and use a collection of template rules to generate custom product-configuration rules.
2. Description of the Background Art
Consumers are not satisfied with cookie-cutter, one-size fits all products and services. They want to be able to customize and configure their products and services to meet their particular needs. In order to meet this demand, companies employ product configurators to ensure that the customized products and services chosen by their customers are not incompatible (e.g., due to manufacturing restrictions or company policies, etc.). Companies, however, often have hundreds or thousands of products. Creating custom configuration rules for each of these products requires significant resources, including development time and coding. Moreover, the process is often mistake-prone.
Luckily, many configuration rules exhibit repeatable configuration logic and behavior, or rule patterns. Therefore, there is the need for a system, method, and computer program product that takes advantage of the rule patterns to enable companies to create and use templates to generate custom product-configuration rules, thus reducing unnecessary time, energy, and resources to individually model the rules.